Review: Gilt Hollow

Read if you like: bad boys and sweet girls, angsty romance, dark thriller vibes in your contemporary, and an underlying mystery.

Gilt Hollow | Lorie Langdon

Series: N/A

Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Mystery, Romance
Released: September 27th 2016
Pages: 304
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

Willow Lamott’s best friend is a murderer, and no one in the small town of Gilt Hollow will let her forget it. For four long years, she’s tried to fade into the background—but none of that matters when Ashton Keller comes striding into school, fresh out of juvie and fueled by revenge. The moment their eyes meet, Willow no longer feels invisible. Drawn to the vulnerability behind Ashton’s mask of rage, she sinks deeper into his sinister world and begins to question whether he’s a villain, a savior, or both.

Ashton thought he wanted vengeance, until Willow reminded him what he’d been missing. Now he longs to clear his name and become the person she sees in him. But the closer they get to uncovering the truth, the darker the secrets become, and Ashton fears his return to Gilt Hollow will destroy everyone he loves, especially the girl he left behind. 

A bad boy out for revenge against those who wrongfully convicted him. A best friend trying to live in the aftermath of defending him. An angst-ridden, emotional romance, and a quest to clear his name PLUS death threats, secrets, and a conspiracy? Damn, I should have read this book sooner. I loved the characters, the little quirks of Halloween parties and the record shop and the motorbike, and all the details made this book something more and bigger than a regular mystery. I really loved it.

4.5 stars

Review: This Is Kind Of An Epic Love Story

Read if you like: angsty romances, flawed characters, and people who don't believe in happily ever afters getting their own HEA.

This Is Kind Of An Epic Love Story | Kheryn Callender

Series: N/A

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Diverse, Queer
Released: October 30th 2018
Pages: 304
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

A fresh, charming rom-com perfect for fans of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and Boy Meets Boy about Nathan Bird, who has sworn off happy endings but is sorely tested when his former best friend, Ollie, moves back to town.

Nathan Bird doesn’t believe in happy endings.

Although he’s the ultimate film buff and an aspiring screenwriter, Nate’s seen the demise of too many relationships to believe that happy endings exist in real life.

Playing it safe to avoid a broken heart has been his MO ever since his father died and left his mom to unravel—but this strategy is not without fault. His best-friend-turned-girlfriend-turned-best-friend-again, Florence, is set on making sure Nate finds someone else. And in a twist that is rom-com-worthy, someone does come along: Oliver James Hernández, his childhood best friend.

After a painful mix-up when they were little, Nate finally has the chance to tell Ollie the truth about his feelings. But can Nate find the courage to pursue his own happily ever after?

This is the kind of contemporary book I always know I'm going to love. Cynical grump meets sunny Labrador of a person and they FALL IN LOVE. But this has the added element of the two of them having been best friends when they were younger, then one of them moving away and all sorts of complicated stuff between them. 

I loved Bird and Oliver James, they are so sweet. But I mostly loved how messy every relationship was in this book. Nate did not have a damn clue what he was doing friend and romance wise, and he messed up constantly, and I LOVED how realistic it was. Characters in books sometimes seem to know exactly how to have besties -  and KEEP them, which always seems the hardest part - and how to be good people that others want to date. Nate was a mess, a little too harsh sometimes, and he snapped before thinking, but I loved how honest this book was. 

And he still got his happily ever after.

4 stars

Review: All Of This Is True

Read if you like: messed up mysteries, deeply flawed characters, and stories that keep you guessing right to the end.

All of This is True | Lygia Day Penaflor

Series: N/A

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery
Released: May 15th 2018
Pages: 432
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

Miri Tan loved the book Undertow like it was a living being. So when she and her friends went to a book signing to meet the author, Fatima Ro, they concocted a plan to get close to her, even if her friends won’t admit it now. As for Jonah, well—Miri knows none of that was Fatima’s fault.

Soleil Johnston wanted to be a writer herself one day. When she and her friends started hanging out with her favorite author, Fatima Ro, she couldn’t believe their luck—especially when Jonah Nicholls started hanging out with them, too. Now, looking back, Soleil can’t believe she let Fatima manipulate her and Jonah like that. She can’t believe that she got used for a book.

Penny Panzarella was more than the materialistic party girl everyone at the Graham School thought she was. She desperately wanted Fatima Ro to see that, and she saw her chance when Fatima asked the girls to be transparent with her. If only she’d known what would happen when Fatima learned Jonah’s secret. If only she’d known that the line between fiction and truth was more complicated than any of them imagined. . . .

This book is messed up. I enjoyed it ... I think. I liked some characters but others were just ... odd. But then there's some serious brainwashing going on in this book. And so many secrets. Basically: a group of teens befriend their favourite author, and she manipulates them into doing things she can write a book about. Super creepy and unsettling, but really well written. You'll never read anything like this, I can promise you that.

4.5 stars

Review: Love & Other Train Wrecks

Read if you like: snarky romance, character-driven stories, and books that stick with you (I'm still thinking about this and talking about it two months later).

Love & Other Train Wrecks | Leah Konen

Genre: YA Contemporary, Romance
Released: January 2nd 2018
Pages: 368
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

A twenty-four-hour romance about two teens who meet—and perhaps change their minds about love—on a train ride to Upstate New York in the middle of a snowstorm

One train ride. Two strangers.

Noah is a hopeless romantic. He’s heading back home for one last chance with his first love, whom he broke up with when he went off to college.

Ammy doesn’t believe in true love—her parents being prime examples. She’s escaping from a mom who can’t take care of her to a dad who may not even want her. That is, until one winter night when Noah and Ammy find themselves in the same Amtrak car heading to Upstate New York.

After a train-wreck first encounter between the two of them, the Amtrak train suddenly breaks down due to a snowstorm. Desperate to make it to their destinations, Noah and Ammy have no other option but to travel together. What starts off as a minor detour turns into the whirlwind journey of a lifetime, and over the course of the night they fall in love. But come morning their adventure takes an unexpected turn for the worst. Can one night can really change how they feel about love...and the course of their lives forever?

Charming from start to finish. I love how the female character was the cynical, non-romantic and the guy was the hopeless fool. I loved their chemistry and interactions and the snark. I loved the train breaking down (second best cliché ever, only to a lift breakdown.) I loved EVERYTHING. Except that twist toward the end (cruel, cruel author.) And the fact the ending feels less like an ending than an abrupt stop. But everything else? Sweet and realistic and full of heart. Highly recommend!

5 stars

Review: The Rest Of Us Just Live Here

Read if you like: books that are so good you can't actually explain them.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here | Patrick Ness

Genre: YA Contemporary/Science Fiction/Fantasy/Awesome
Released: October 6th 2017
Pages: 317
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

What if you aren’t the Chosen One? The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.

Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions.

Award-winning writer Patrick Ness’s bold and irreverent novel powerfully reminds us that there are many different types of remarkable.

THIS is everything I wanted. Why did I take so long to read this? Unforgettable characters and friendships, emotions so strong and raw it's impossible not to feel them, fantasy subplot, anxiety rep, an indie kid chosen one called SATCHEL who is constantly mocked. Honestly, there's nothing not to like about this and I loved every page. (I read 70% in one sitting.) I wish there was more book!!

5 stars

Review: Windfall

Read if you like: contemporary stories with so much heart and love you want to cry.

Windfall | Jennifer E. Smith

Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Released: May 4th 2017
Pages: 416
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased

Alice doesn’t believe in luck—at least, not the good kind. But she does believe in love, and for some time now, she’s been pining for her best friend, Teddy. On his eighteenth birthday—just when it seems they might be on the brink of something—she buys him a lottery ticket on a lark. To their astonishment, he wins $140 million, and in an instant, everything changes.

At first, it seems like a dream come true, especially since the two of them are no strangers to misfortune. As a kid, Alice won the worst kind of lottery possible when her parents died just over a year apart from each other. And Teddy’s father abandoned his family not long after that, leaving them to grapple with his gambling debts. Through it all, Teddy and Alice have leaned on each other. But now, as they negotiate the ripple effects of Teddy’s newfound wealth, a gulf opens between them. And soon, the money starts to feel like more of a curse than a windfall.

As they try to find their way back to each other, Alice learns more about herself than she ever could have imagined . . . and about the unexpected ways in which luck and love sometimes intersect.

So, so, so good. This is everything I needed to read: romantic, sad, hopeful, full of feeling. I love how clever the actual story is, and the relationships between all characters are so honest and real, whether love, friends, or family. Just perfect. Jennifer E. Smith is now an auto-buy author for me.

5 stars

Review: The Poet X

The Poet X | Elizabeth Acevedo

Published by: HarperTeen, March 8th 2018

Genre: Poetry, Contemporary

Pages: 368

Format: Ebook

Source: HarperTeen, via Edelweiss

A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.

So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.

Fans of Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds will fall hard for this astonishing own voices novel-in-verse by an award-winning slam poet, about an Afro-Latina heroine who tells her story with blazing words and powerful truth.

This was so different to what I expected, and I loved it. Beautiful form, stark and aching poetry, and pretty damn awesome characters. All the things I like. 

I loved Xiomara, and I felt for her so much with all the things she had to deal with. She's just a girl trying to muddle through being a teenager, discovering herself and her passion and boys. At its heart this book is about questions, and love - familial love, romantic love, and especially self love. 

I LOVE novels in verse but my usual problem is they don't end, they just stop - but this book has an actual ending, and it made me so happy to have that closure, to know there's hope for the characters and their lives. This book is honestly so well done. I'm very happy I read it, even if it hurt me towards the end. I want to read more from Elizabeth Acevedo.

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★★

Review: Moonrise

Moonrise | Sarah Crossan

Published by: Bloomsbury Children's, September 7th 2017

Genre: YA, Contemporary, Poetry

Pages: 400

Format: Ebook

Source: Bloomsbury, via Netgalley

'They think I hurt someone. 
But I didn't. You hear?
Coz people are gonna be telling you
all kinds of lies.
I need you to know the truth.'

Joe hasn't seen his brother for ten years, and it's for the most brutal of reasons. Ed is on death row.

But now Ed's execution date has been set, and Joe is determined to spend those last weeks with him, no matter what other people think ...

From one-time winner and two-time Carnegie Medal shortlisted author Sarah Crossan, this poignant, stirring, huge-hearted novel asks big questions. What value do you place on life? What can you forgive? And just how do you say goodbye?

This book was so sad. I expected it to be full of grief but it was just SO sad and lonesome. The premise itself was really unique and interesting and just heartbreaking, with the main character's brother on death row. But he was so alone throughout much of this and that really came through the poetry and the language. I like how the book wasn't a hundred percent about Joe's brother, that there were elements of life outside that, and there was a bit of a romance but not too much to detract from the heart of the book. My only niggle is I wanted justice for Ed, wanted the killer to answer for the crime, but I still like the ending. 

This book is so pure and sad and honest that it hurts.

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world ★★★☆☆

Writing ★★★★☆

Review: Girl Against The Universe

Girl Against The Universe | Paula Stokes

Published by: HarperTeen, May 17th 2016

Genre: YA, Contemporary, Mental Illness

Pages: 400

Format: Ebook

Source: Publisher, via Edelweiss

From the author of The Art of Lainey and Liars, Inc. comes a fresh, contemporary story about a girl coping with PTSD and the boy who wants to help her move on from the past.

Sixteen-year-old Maguire knows the universe is against her. No matter how many charms she buys off the internet or good luck rituals she performs each morning, horrible things happen when she's around. Like that time the roller coaster jumped off its tracks. Or the time the house next door caught on fire. Or the time her brother, father, and uncle were all killed in a car crash--and Maguire walked away with barely a scratch. 

Despite what her therapist tells her, Maguire thinks it's best to hide out in her room, far away from anyone she might accidentally hurt. But then she meets Jordy, an aspiring tennis star who wants to help her break her unlucky streak. Maguire knows that the best thing she can do for him is to stay away, but it turns out staying away might be harder than she thought.

I knew I was going to love this but I didn't guess HOW MUCH I'd love it. This book was pretty much made for me - tennis, romance, and anxiety? Yes to all this in one book. I waited way too long read it though and I wish I'd read it last year because I love it so much. Honestly this whole book is perfect, from the tennis to the characters and family life (I loved her step-dad) and the friendships in this. My favourite bits were of Jordy, the love interest who is so real and messed up and lovely that I fell for him so hard. And I really loved the main character and her recovery, how messy and raw it was for her to face her fears and move past them. This is just written so well, especially the therapy. I'm so glad I read it. I wish it was longer though - I wasn't ready to say goodbye to this book.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★☆

Review: You Were Here

You Were Here | Cori McCarthy

Published by: Sourcebooks Fire, March 1st 2016

Genre: YA, Contemporary (but with a horror tone in parts), Comics

Pages: 400

Format: Ebook

Source: Sourcebooks Fire,, via Edelweiss

Grief turned Jaycee into a daredevil, but can she dare to deal with her past?

On the anniversary of her daredevil brother's death, Jaycee attempts to break into Jake's favorite hideout—the petrifying ruins of an insane asylum. Joined by four classmates, each with their own brand of dysfunction, Jaycee discovers a map detailing her brother's exploration and the unfinished dares he left behind.

As a tribute to Jake, Jaycee vows to complete the dares, no matter how terrifying or dangerous. What she doesn't bargain on is her eccentric band of friends who challenge her to do the unthinkable: reveal the parts of herself that she buried with her brother.

Stunning and strange and nothing like I expected. I treasured every page of this, and to be honest I wasn't sure I'd even like it in the beginning. I LOVED it, from tortured, grieving Jaycee, to serious Bishop, sad Zach, and seriously messed up Natalie. And my absolute favourite, precious Mik with his dramatic trench coat and his full-of-words silences.

The format of this book really made it stand out - there's prose, art, and comic pages (which were my favourite.) It did such a good job of telling the story that when I finished it, I immediately wanted to reread it. I fell in love with their idiotic daredevil stunts, their shared grief, and their messy friendships, and I loved every creepy setting from the crumbling mall to the abandoned theme park. This book is perfect. I miss it already.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★★

Review: Eliza & Her Monsters

Eliza & Her Monsters | Francesca Zappia

Published by: Greenwillow Books, May 30th 2017

Genre: YA, Contemporary, Comics

Pages: 400

Format: Ebook

Source: Greenwillow, via Edelweiss

Eighteen-year-old Eliza Mirk is the anonymous creator of Monstrous Sea, a wildly popular webcomic, but when a new boy at school tempts her to live a life offline, everything she’s worked for begins to crumble.

In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, smart, and friendless. Online, Eliza is LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of a popular webcomic called Monstrous Sea. With millions of followers and fans throughout the world, Eliza’s persona is popular. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves her digital community. Then Wallace Warland transfers to her school, and Eliza begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile. But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity—begins to fall apart. With pages from Eliza’s webcomic, as well as screenshots from Eliza’s online forums, this uniquely formatted book will appeal to fans of Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona and Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl.

My favourite contemporary ever. And to think I never used to like the genre. This dumb book stole my heart.

I can't even begin to explain how hard I connected with this, with the characters and the story, as both a member of many fandoms and  as a creator. Everything, from the characterisation, to the online friendships, to the fandoms, to the romance, to the family life just meant SO MUCH. And the art was PERFECT, I badly want to read Monstrous Sea. I have nothing but emotions for this book - no comments or issues or whatever I usually say in reviews. I just honestly loved this so much, and it HURT me so much, but I love it more for it. That ending was unfair for a long while and, not gonna lie, I cried for the whole last 30% non-stop, at first because it broke my heart and then because it mended it. I want to read this all over again.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★★

Review: The Upside of Unrequited

The Upside of Unrequited | Becky Albertalli

Published by: Balzer+Bray, April 11th 2017

Genre: Contemporary, Diverse

Pages: 560

Format: Ebook

Source: Balzer+Bray, via Edelweiss

Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.

Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. Will is funny and flirtatious and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And if Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and she’ll get her twin back. 

There’s only one problem: Molly’s coworker Reid. He’s an awkward Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?

One of the cutest, sweetest, full-of-hope books I've read in a long time. 

I love how there's so many facets of the story, with Molly's work, her family life, her relationship with her sister, her new circle of friends, her moms' wedding, and her romance. I especially love how the main cast are queer and POC (even if Molly herself is straight.) The characters are so full of life and sarcasm and emotion, and I love them all. This is just perfect. I smiled, I laughed, I surprised myself by crying. I don't have the right words to explain how much I loved reading this.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world ★★★☆☆

Writing ★★★★☆